


Just Last The Year

by klloydbanks



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-14
Updated: 2012-07-14
Packaged: 2017-11-09 23:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/459456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klloydbanks/pseuds/klloydbanks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>R, 1.3k. Written for the prompt: Ian follows Mickey when he goes after Frank and tries to stop him. It's just a different series of events to the end of 2x08, same conclusion just a different road to get there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Last The Year

Ian starts his search at Mickey’s house. Rationally he knows Mick won’t be there and he isn’t surprised when Mandy gives him a weird look and tells him that her brothers went out but it’s still frustrating. He checks the store, the bars, the El, he even checks his own bedroom before it occurs to him that in order to find Mickey, he’ll have to follow Frank.

He waits outside the Alibi long enough to watch Mickey and his brothers pull up and gets a sick feeling in his stomach when he realizes that his whole plan hinges on Mickey being alone. Ian can’t stop him if his brothers are right there. For a second he thinks about the wild, betrayed look in Mickey’s eyes when he figured out that Ian had told Frank. He thinks about how badly he’d wanted to scream, “this isn’t me choosing him over you, it’s me trying to keep you safe.” Thinks that maybe Mickey knows him too well, knew he’d come; brought his brothers for extra reassurance that Ian would back off.

Ian’s watching Mickey watch the door to the Alibi but he looks… off. He gnaws on his bottom lip until it looks red and puffy and it makes Ian ache to kiss him. That had always been Mickey’s line in the sand and Ian thinks bitterly that if he’d known what would happen, he would have just kissed him in the beginning, ended it all with a bang. He keeps rubbing his eyes like he’s seeing something he doesn’t like and Ian feels a phantom sting under his own eyelids. 

It’s weird, the things he notices when he watches Mickey this closely. He’ll light a cigarette but let it burn out without taking a single drag. His breathing is even and steady but his eyes looks frantic. His brothers are talking but Mickey hasn’t said a word, completely focused and completely distracted all at once. Ian briefly entertains the idea that Mickey is thinking about him, about them and what he said before he left but it’s a useless train of thought and Ian’s wasted enough time on romance.

Frank stumbles out of the Alibi just after 1, clearly oblivious of the threatening presence surrounding him, doesn’t even notice when he passes Ian in the alley down the street from the bar. He’s an easy target for Mickey who thankfully appears to have gotten rid of his brothers. Ian knows exactly how good Mickey is with a gun, knows how quick he is, how volatile, so he has to plan his move perfectly or he’s gonna be the one getting shot. As soon as Mickey steps past the alley, Ian grabs him and pulls him back, one hand curling tightly over Mickey’s on the gun. It’s quick and tense and scary as fuck but as soon as Mickey sees his face, he stops fighting and moves to face Ian.

“Of course you had to be here, couldn’t just leave it alone.” 

“I’m so sorry I’m not gonna let you commit murder for no fucking reason. Frank’s not gonna talk Mick, it’s fine.” His words seem to fall on deaf ears as Mickey shakes his head and brings his fingers up to his eyes again.

“All I could think about all day was your fucking face and how fucking sad you looked and I couldn’t eat. Every time I closed my eyes, that’s all I could see. You know how fucked up that is? Mandy made chicken nuggets and I couldn’t eat them because _you_ were sad. I didn’t even wanna get high. Do you even understand how pathetic that is?”

“It’s not pathetic it’s-“ Ian tried to cut in but Mickey was on a roll and wouldn’t be stopped.

“Why the fuck did you do this to me?” The question came out broken and shaky, directed at the inches of pavement between their feet. 

“Why did I do what to you?” Ian asked, but Mickey was still barely listening to him.

“Wasn’t supposed to be like this. You were gonna be an easy lay, a hard dick and good head I could get a few times when I was real hard up for it. When the fuck did it turn in to…” Ian could feel the knife in his gut turn a little more and had half a mind to say something when Mickey suddenly focused his attention back on him, sharp and angry once more. “And you! You coulda had anyone but you picked me and I don’t know how the fuck to do this. You fucked me up and made me stupid and that’s on you Gallagher, not me.” He’s up in Ian’s face, shoving him back against the brick wall and moving in so close that Ian can practically taste the cinnamon gum in his mouth. 

“Jesus Mick, you think this is a bad thing, it’s not. You’re supposed to care about the people you’re with, you’re supposed to feel like shit when you hurt them.”

“I do feel like shit. Is that what you wanted? You want me to feel like a fucking asshole to prove that I care about you? Newsflash Gallagher, I fucking care about you, why the hell do you think I’m doin’ this?” Before he’s even finished Mickey’s stepping back and Ian doesn’t hesitate to grab his jacket and pull him back against his chest.

“This is not a kill or be killed situation Mickey, we’ll figure something else out.”

“Look I get that you don’t understand what you’re involved in here and everything is fucking sunshine and gay roses from where you’re standing but if we let Frank live, he will talk because that’s what loud mouths do and when he does my dad will kill us both.” He looks so scared; so sincere that Ian almost buys into it. “I’m not doing this for fun Ian, I’m doing this _for_ us.”

“For us, huh? What would have done if it had been your dad that found us? What if it had been Mandy or Fiona or anyone else for that matter?”

“Don’t play that fucking game, I have no goddamn idea what we would’ve done if it was someone else and neither do you but the fact is it was Frank. Frank who has fucked you over more times than we can count on both our hands. Frank who is not even your real fucking father. I am trying to save our lives here Ian, a little cooperation would be great.”

“I’m trying to tell you there’s another way. Nobody has to die for this, you don’t have to go away for it.” Ian hears the sirens ring outside the alley and for a minute he thinks he’s won. Mickey would never kill someone in front of cops. He can tell the second Mickey hears them too, shaking his head and muttering, “ _fuck_ ” under his breath.

Ian stands there lost for a moment, back against the bricks and holding Mickey tight against him. He almost suggests they walk back to his house and talk more before Mickey is surging up, swollen, chewed up lips pressing soft against Ian’s. His eyes are squeezed shut and Ian let’s his slide closed when he feels Mickey’s hand come up to hold the side his neck. It’s brief and never gets deeper but it makes Ian’s heart beat faster and it makes him hope.

Even with all the fucking they’ve done, it’s the most intimate moment Ian’s ever been a part of and when Mickey pulls back he keeps his eyes shut, holding on as long as he possibly can. He’s so stunned that when he opens his eyes again, it takes him a minute to realize that Mickey has walked away. 

He gets his breath back and stumbles out of the alley just in time to see Mickey’s fist go straight into the cop’s face.


End file.
